In California, 'jungle primary' it is

For California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Tuesday’s primary was supposed to be easy.

Up until the polls closed, it was widely assumed that Bowen and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, both Democrats, were shoo-ins to advance to a runoff election for a vacant Southern California congressional seat.

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By the early hours of Wednesday morning, however, Bowen’s path to a July race against first-place finisher Hahn was decidedly clouded. With fewer than 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted, Bowen trails little-known Republican advertising executive Craig Huey by about 200 votes.

Complicating what many regarded as a two-woman race was Marcy Winograd, the liberal anti-war activist who has waged three unsuccessful bids for the seat and who siphoned progressive support from Bowen. Winograd, who finished fourth, received 9 percent – votes that could have gone to Bowen, who aggressively promoted her environmental record and who had the backing of national groups like Democracy for America and the Sierra Club.

The Hahn campaign worked aggressively to ensure that the liberal vote would be divided between Bowen and Winograd. Shortly after Bowen entered the race in February, Hahn released a letter asking the secretary of state to join her in offering full-throated support to Israel. Bowen signed on – leading Winograd to blast the secretary of state for adopting a hawkish, conservative foreign policy approach.

Then there was the mailer Hahn sent out just prior to the election that could have been confused for a pro-Winograd ad. Winograd, the mailer noted, had the backing of the Progressive Democrats of America and was a “strong anti-war activist” who proposed “significant cuts to military spending.” It also noted that Bowen was a former Republican who, in contrast, had offered “no specific plan to reduce military spending” and who had taken in reams of contributions from health care and oil companies.

“The real story is that Hahn very clearly had a strategy that had encouraged voters to go to Winograd,” said Darry Sragow, a longtime Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist. “From the day the race started, Hahn succeeded in pulling voters to Winograd.”